Common Core Regrets? [via NYTimes]

In response to Diane Ravitch’s opinion piece in the Times recently, readers offered their take on testing, the state of public education, and critics. One reader writes:

Diane Ravitch perpetuates myths about the Common Core and doesn’t match reality. In Delaware — and in a majority of states — students of all backgrounds and income levels are rising to the challenge of higher standards and are gaining the skills they need to meet the demands of college and the workplace. While assessments aligned to the Common Core are just one measure of student performance, they are showing progress.

Later, the same author adds:

Teachers helped write the Common Core standards, and while their implementation has not been perfect, teachers overwhelmingly support them.

I’ve learned to try to avoid phrases like “perpetuates myths” in these conversations; little good can come from it. I would also caution the author from saying “teachers helped write the Common Core.” Teachers, as in a unified and systematically engaged collective, cannot be said to have written the standards. For more on the process of writing the Common Core, check out this beautiful essay by literacy scholar Arthur Applebee in English Journal.